Celebrity Travel

Go Away With … Jeannie Mai

Celebrity Travel August 12, 2019

It has been a busy year for Jeannie Mai. Besides co-hosting the talk show “The Real,” she is a correspondent on Stephen Curry’s ABC mini-golf competition series, “Holey Moley.” Whenever she can carve out some free time, the on-air talent says she enjoys exploring new cities. One of her favorite memories is a childhood trip she took with her family. “We went to Yosemite and I absolutely loved it,” said Mai, 40. “We lost my little brother for a second and set bear traps, thinking he was bear napped. But that story is for another time.” Born and raised in California, where she still resides, Mai stays in touch with fans on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jeanniemai) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/thejeanniemai).

Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?

A. My ultimate getaway is Vietnam. It has a little bit of everything when it comes to culture, amazing food, beautiful people, exotic sights, sounds and profound history of love, bravery and resilience. Everybody must visit Vietnam once in their life. You haven’t visited Vietnam if you don’t sit along the side of the road and eat something from the street vendors!

Q. What untapped destination should people know about?

A. Sa Pa, Vietnam. Google it and you will understand once you see the land. It’s untapped as of now, but I have a feeling it will change immensely in the next five years as one of my favorite hotel designers just put up one of his greatest locations there.

Q. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?

A. To appreciate the journey itself and not the destination. The wrong turns, the random strangers we meet and the conversations with another friend while brushing your teeth will be the lifelong memories you’ll never have again.

Q. If you could only pick one place to eat, which would you choose: a casual meal at a food truck or fine dining at a nice restaurant?

A. Casual meal at a street cart! That is where you are in the thick of it — the atmosphere, real authentic food and culture. If there were only one place to eat, I would pick anywhere in Northern Vietnam where you get the French and Vietnamese culinary fusion. And street cart … always.

Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?

A. Santa Barbara or San Diego. It’s just a few hours drive from my home.

Q. Where is the most romantic destination?

A. I recently learned that Lake Como is one of the most romantic places two people could go. That beautiful great lake is a majestic reminder that love is unconditional when you flow and nourish one another, constantly and unconditionally, like water.

Q. If you’ve ever gone away for the holidays, which was the best trip?

A. Well, the best trip would have been when I surprised my whole family with tickets to Jamaica. There we were at the airport excitedly ready to board when Mama Mai arrived too late … with no passport. Instead, she was holding a huge bag of sliced fruit that she was planning to use to bribe the security guards to let her through without ID. You can imagine how pissed I was to spend Christmas in the cold Bay Area with a bunch of bikinis and caftans.

Q. Do you speak any foreign languages? And in the same train of thought, do you pick up new languages easily?

A. I speak Vietnamese and conversational Spanish. I can pick up any language if it means flirting better with a boo (laughs).

Q. What are your five favorite cities?

A. San Francisco, New York, Kowloon, Positano and Tokyo.

Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?

A. Austin reminds me a lot of the food in San Francisco and New York’s beautiful melting pot reminds me what the Bay Area people are like.

Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?

A. I have a long list, but right off the top of my head Holland, Santorini and Amsterdam.

Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?

A. I absolutely must have my bag of tricks — what I call my skincare bag. It’s filled with all my secrets and goodies to preserve this face.

Q. What would be your dream trip?

A. Istanbul. I’ve heard it’s so beautiful and I would immerse myself in the street shopping for days.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you’re on the road?

A. Hitting up local grocery stores and buying every type of potato chip bag in exotic flavors. Asia is the best for that. My second guilty pleasure is visiting the McDonald’s and seeing what dipping sauces they have, like curry sauce in London!

Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?

A. I research everything you can think of, local blogs, Instagram hashtags. I follow Anthony Bourdain’s trails, if he’s been there before, and I also research the best local foods and shopping. Of course, when I get there this list only gets longer because I’ll talk to locals and get the nitty gritty on where the good stuff is at. After one hour in Hong Kong, I knew exactly where to find all the discount luxury bags, like the Chanel chain link belt bag I named Shaneezy, which I rock today.

(Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and travel writer. You can respond to this column by visiting her website at www.jaehakim.com. You may also follow “Go Away With…” on Twitter at @GoAwayWithJae where Jae-Ha Kim welcomes your questions and comments.)

About Celebrity Travel

New York Times best-selling author Jae-Ha Kim’s “Go Away With …” column provides readers with insight into how and where celebrities like to travel, as well as the things they’ve learned when they step outside of their comfort zone. Actor Terry Crews talks about how he dealt with racism during a trip to South Africa. Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk remembers trying blowfish in Japan without realizing what he was eating. And actress Rosanna Arquette shares how traveling has helped shape her views on how women are treated worldwide.

Kim started her writing career while studying political science at the University of Chicago. After earning her M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University, Kim was the pop music critic at the Chicago Sun-Times. Her writing credits include Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Kim wrote the first book about the hit sitcom “Friends” and is a co-editor of several travel books. She has appeared as a pop culture expert on NBC’s “Today,” “Entertainment Tonight,” A&E’s “Biography” and E! Entertainment. Kim got her first passport when she was four years old and hasn’t stopped traveling. She counts Seoul, Seattle and Edinburgh as some of her favorite cities. Kim lives in the Chicago area with her husband and son.

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